The basic story idea of Waylander is like a picture of a Big Mac – perfect, juicy, mouth-watering, and oh so tempting. The book itself, unfortunately, is the sad, squashed reality handed to you in the drive thru.

Waylander is an infamous assassin, whose conscience is touched – literally – by the purity of the priest Dardalion, whom Waylander incidentally saves in pursuit of his stolen horse. Waylander’s walk towards the light would have been more compelling if it had been by conscious choice rather than appearing to be by ‘infection’ with Dardalion’s purity. At the same time, Dardalion is tainted by Waylander’s amorality and abandons his pacifist stance, taking up weapons in defence of the innocent – to the horror of most of his brother priests.

Waylander is approached by the old King of Drenai, and father of the king he murdered, to find and retrieve his fabled ‘Armour of Bronze’. The armour has no special powers, but could serve as a rallying point for Egel, the general leading the failing Drenai army against the invading Vagrian forces. Although there is no particular reason for him to agree, Waylander does so, even though he is assured of almost certain death in the attempt.

While David Gemmell clearly has some understanding of the elements of a good story, his execution into the written word is clumsy at best. There is rarely any sense of setting, and then when there is, it is insufficient for the reader to feel they are present. Many of the characters are poorly defined and indistinguishable from each other. Some minor characters seem to have received more development than they should, while some major characters languished from neglect. Dialogue was short and sharp, with no identifying characteristics to identify the speaker; it suffered from ‘talking heads syndrome’ and the characters were indistinguishable. Some characters act in ways which defy logic or reason, apparently behaving in that way solely because it suited the author. The romance is handled clumsily, and the characters fall into each other’s arms with a suddenness that is unconvincing. In fact, I was more convinced she’d happily cut his throat and never shed a tear.

Some of the most interesting parts of the book are Waylander’s explanation of the nature of fear, and his philosophical attitude towards it, and Dardalion’s exposition on why taking up arms in defence of the innocent is more of a sacrifice than merely allowing himself to be killed for the benefit of no one.

While I was not impressed with the book this time around, I did enjoy it a lot more when I was a teenager, and David Gemmell is amazingly popular, so his books do appeal to a certain audience. If you’re in your teens, or simply enjoy your fantasy straightforward, uncomplicated and limited to a single book, this may still be worth your time.

Ciara is a writer of high fantasy. A fantasy lover from her early years, this loyal, passionate, quirky, strong-willed, confident woman is bent on world domination and already has a couple of minions in the making. Born argumentative and recognising the long road to make money out of writing, Ciara wisely invested her natural inclinations in a career in law. Her favourite authors include Terry Goodkind, Terry Pratchett, Brandon Sanderson, Robert Jordan and Brent Weeks. She is the official dragon expert of #stabbylove.

This book starts with action and keeps up the pace pretty much the whole way through. I did enjoy the book because I liked the characters, however there were many things that irked me, which was a surprise because for years I had seen David Gemmell’s books around and always though I should read this author’s work.

I found the dialogue unnatural. The characters spoke in a stilted, clipped fashion, which would normally indicate anger, or that the person wants the conversation to end as soon as possible.

The amount of typos was irritating. It is normal to find a handful of things that slip through the proofreading cracks, but this was ridiculous, especially for a traditionally published, supposedly big-name author. Several times whole words were incorrect—one sentence had “it it” instead of “to it” for instance. Quotation marks were frequently left out, either before or after speech, and a couple of times I came across whole sentences that just didn’t make sense.

I found the way Waylander was saved on two occasions to be too contrived and convenient and the way the book ended was disappointing—not only were there massive tragedies (overdone I feel) that didn’t make me shed one tear, but the ending was over within three or four pages. It was almost as if it was a screenplay, not a novel.

A positive thing was that I had a good sense of the personality of Waylander and I wanted his character to survive. I would say this is an okay read, but I wouldn’t recommend it as a book you need to rush out and read.

Dionne Lister

Dionne is an author and editor from Sydney who loves reading (obviously) and playing sport. She co-hosts a humorous podcast called Tweep Nation where she interviews authors and discusses all things Twitter. She loves writing and sharing her stories, but she wishes they wouldn’t keep her awake at night.

Business has been slow. Okay, business has been dead. And not even of the undead variety. You would think Chicago would have a little more action for the only professional wizard in the phone book. But lately, Harry Dresden hasn’t been able to dredge up any kind of work — magical or mundane.

But just when it looks like he can’t afford his next meal, a murder comes along that requires his particular brand of supernatural expertise.

A brutally mutilated corpse. Strange-looking paw prints. A full moon. Take three guesses — and the first two don’t count…

Wow what a book! Fast-paced narrative with a character I liked. Helen Grant writes with a style I enjoy reading. Her sense of humour shines through, with the main character, Lin, snarky and with little patience for stupidity or arseholes. The characterization rang true for me—a teen who is not afraid to stand up for what she thinks is right, but second-guesses herself at times.

The main story was mystery and horror combined, underscored with the secondary plot of Lin’s sister, Polly, having anorexia, and Lin’s fear for her. This adds tension to the main narrative. It was all woven together smoothly. Her similes were deftly drawn, one of my favourites being, “Reality seems to be unraveling as though it were a piece of knitting and someone had taken the end of the wool and pulled until the stiches slipped, one after another, dissolution running back and forth across the work, faster and faster…”.

The journey Lin undertakes reveals her strengths, while it exposes the weaknesses of those around her, including her father and mother. While I was not scared while reading this book, I did fear for the characters, although assumed Lin would come out of it alive since she was narrating it. If you want a book that is within the thriller/horror genre but has a literary slant, you should try this book. I couldn’t put it down. I’m off to find Helen Grants other books now. Bye.

Dionne Lister

Dionne is an author and editor from Sydney who loves reading (obviously) and playing sport. She co-hosts a humorous podcast called Tweep Nation where she interviews authors and discusses all things Twitter. She loves writing and sharing her stories, but she wishes they wouldn’t keep her awake at night.

The Drenai King is dead – murdered by a ruthless assassin. Enemy troops swarm into Drenai lands. Their orders are simple – kill every man, woman and child. But there is hope. Stalked by men who act like beasts and beasts that walk like men, the warrior Waylander must journey into the shadow-haunted lands of the Nadir to find the legendary Armour of Bronze. With this he can turn the tide. But can he be trusted? For he is Waylander the Slayer. The traitor who killed the King…

Lin is dragged from England to backwater Germany by her father, Dr Oliver Fox, obsessed with the discovery of the famed Allerheiligen glass, a set of stained glass windows missing for hundreds of years, perhaps no longer even in existence.

Lin thinks her biggest problems are completing her final exams in a foreign country and serving as interpreter for her father as he chases the fabulous glass, but these are the least of her worries. For the glass is rumoured to be haunted by the demon Bonschariant, and murder and woe have followed in its wake ever since its creation. No sooner has the family – Lin, her elder sister Polly, younger brother Ru, and her parents – arrived in Germany than Lin has stumbled over a corpse.

It is the first of many, as her father’s contact in Germany, a man who insisted her knew where to find the Allerheiligen glass, is dead – supposedly drowned in his bath. But his corpse, like the corpse in the apple orchard, was surrounded by fragments of shattered glass. Is there some connection between these deaths, and other events heralded by broken glass, and the Glass Demon? Is Bonschariant intent on murdering everyone who crosses paths with his glass? Or is it just the locals, intent on deterring outsiders from finding the famed stained windows? From the very start, Lin is warned by Michel, a boy who lives on a nearby farm, that her father will never find the glass without help.

The story is told from Lin’s point of view, and the author does an excellent job of capturing the essence of a wilful teenager. That said, that very fact drove me nuts sometimes, as the childish foolishness and wilful blindness of said teenager left me furious and wanting to smack her across the head. Teenagers may more readily relate to Lin than older adults.

The story is solid, with her enough mystery, conflict and intrigue to draw the reader onwards. While I wouldn’t say I was desperate to finish the story, I certainly felt compelled to read on. The opening was a little slow, and I was perhaps a quarter of the way through before I felt the story had really captured me.

I was confused for much of the book about the nature of the relationship with Tuesday. Initially I thought she was a second wife, and Lin and Polly’s stepmother, which explained why a couple with two teenage daughters on the brink of their twenties had an eighteen month old son, as well as Tuesday’s disinterest in the girls, and Lin’s attitude to her. When I realised she was their real mother, that left too many unanswered questions. Why did they have such a large gap between their elder and younger children? Especially since Tuesday was so disinterested in actually being a mother? The lack of explanation is unimportant to the overall story, but it bothered me.

Well handled was the relationship between Lin and Michel. While ordinarily a relationship between them might seem inevitable, with him the obvious love interest, I found the author did an excellent job of convincing me that there was no way Lin would ever entertain such a notion, so that when a relationship did actually start to blossom, I found myself a bit surprised.

Having read this for Club Fantasci, I expected it to be speculative fiction, but I’d classify it as more crime/thriller/suspense in the vein of The Da Vinci Code. That said, if you don’t mind the genre, it’s well worth the read.

Ciara is a writer of high fantasy. A fantasy lover from her early years, this loyal, passionate, quirky, strong-willed, confident woman is bent on world domination and already has a couple of minions in the making. Born argumentative and recognising the long road to make money out of writing, Ciara wisely invested her natural inclinations in a career in law. Her favourite authors include Terry Goodkind, Terry Pratchett, Brandon Sanderson, Robert Jordan and Brent Weeks. She is the official dragon expert of #stabbylove.

I enjoyed reading this book. It follows the life of Ender, a child who lives in a human society that has population controls. Even though having three children is an embarrassment, his parents were asked to conceive him because the government thought he might have the potential to benefit humanity. The world is under threat from an alien race: the buggers. The people around him use Ender, but he is aware of this, at least. I won’t go into details about the plot, as I don’t want to spoil it, so I’ll move on to what I liked about the book.

Ender’s character was likeable and you wanted him to succeed. Some of the things he experienced were made more intense because of his age, and the author does a good job of reminding you at important times—he makes the reader vulnerable by showing us Ender’s vulnerability. The enclosed living arrangements throughout most of the story focus and magnify the intensity of many situations—Ender is working towards physical freedom as well as mental; the confines of his living arrangements work to parallel those other restraints.

The scenes didn’t transition smoothly for me but I wonder if the fragmented style is supposed to enhance the feeling of uncertainty and the feeling of disharmony between countries and people on Earth. The pace was generally fast, although there were a couple of spots I felt slowed unnecessarily. I liked the overall statement made about empathy and trying to create a world where people live in harmony, to the best of their capability, with others and nature. I liked how the author looked at the conflict from both the human and bugger (alien) point of view. This is a book that I highly recommend.

Dionne Lister

Dionne is an author and editor from Sydney who loves reading (obviously) and playing sport. She co-hosts a humorous podcast called Tweep Nation where she interviews authors and discusses all things Twitter. She loves writing and sharing her stories, but she wishes they wouldn’t keep her awake at night.

Club Fantasci Host and author Dionne Lister has released “A Time of Darkness (The Circle of Talia) the sequel to “Shadows of the Realm” and best selling series Circle of Talia series. It is available in e-book format and will be available in paperback next week.

Book description: A Time of Darkness is the second book in the best-selling Circle of Talia series. This exciting epic fantasy is filled with magic, dragons and adventure.

While Bronwyn languishes in a cell in the bowels of Vellonia and the dragon king argues for her death, the gormons are one step closer to destroying Talia. To add to The Circle’s problems, Leon’s plans to overthrow his brother, King Edmund, are moving ahead faster than anyone could have imagined, and someone will die as a result. The realmists and dragons are doing all they can, but how could it possibly be enough when thousands have already been slaughtered?

The prophesized time of darkness, a time the realmists have dreaded for the last thousand years, has begun.

Congratulations Dionne from all of us at Club Fantasci!

Dionne Lister

Dionne is an author and editor from Sydney who loves reading (obviously) and playing sport. She co-hosts a humorous podcast called Tweep Nation where she interviews authors and discusses all things Twitter. She loves writing and sharing her stories, but she wishes they wouldn’t keep her awake at night.

Seventeen-year-old Lin Fox finds a body in an orchard. As she backs away in horror, she steps on broken glass.

Then blood appears on her doorstep—blood, and broken glass.

Something terrible is found in the cemetery. Shards of glass lie by a grave.

As the attacks become more sinister, Lin doesn’t know whom to trust. She’s getting closer to the truth behind these chilling discoveries, but with each move the danger deepens. Someone wants Lin gone—and won’t give up until he’s got rid of her and her family. Forever.